Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; registration intervals for Tier I and Tier II offenses. Requires any person who is required to register with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry and who is convicted of a Tier I or Tier II offense to register yearly. The bill also requires any person convicted of providing false information or failing to provide registration information where such person was included on the Registry for a Tier II offense to register twice a year.
Certified registered nurse anesthetists; elimination of supervision requirement. Eliminates the requirement that certified registered nurse anesthetists must practice under the supervision of a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, or dentistry and instead requires them to practice in consultation with a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, or dentistry and in accordance with regulations jointly promulgated by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing.
Voter registration; time period for closing registration records before elections; five days. Provides that registration records be closed during the five days before any election. Under current law registration records are close during the 21 days before a primary or general election and, if the registration records have not been closed previously for a primary or general election, during the six days before a special election called by the Governor, Speaker of the House of Delegates, or President pro tempore of the Senate, or pursuant to rule or resolution of either house of the General Assembly and during the 13 days before any other special election.
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; boards; appointment requirements; years of experience. Lowers from at least five years to at least three years the years of experience required for the appointment of (i) home inspectors to the Virginia Board for Asbestos, Lead, and Home Inspectors; (ii) hearing aid specialists, otolaryngologists, opticians, and ophthalmologists to the Board for Hearing Aid Specialists and Opticians; (iii) real estate appraisers to the Real Estate Appraiser Board; (iv) alternative onsite sewage system operators, alternative onsite sewage system installers, and onsite soil evaluators to the Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage System Professionals; and (v) cemetery operators to the Cemetery Board.
New solar generation facilities; certificate of convenience and necessity; bond required. Provides that the State Corporation Commission shall only issue a certificate of convenience and necessity for a public utility to construct, enlarge, or acquire a solar generation facility that has a size of over one acre if the public utility has filed with the Commission a bond for performance payable to the Commonwealth. The amount of such bond shall be determined by the Commission depending on the size of the solar generation facility but shall not be less than $10,000.
Health records; disclosure of laboratory test results. Requires health care entities to wait 72 hours before disclosing test results that could indicate malignancy or genetic markers as part of a patient's health records. The bill permits health care entities to disclose health records to an electronic health information exchange to comply with the 21st Century Cures Act.
State Corporation Commission; certificate of operation for high load facilities. Prohibits any person from operating a high load facility, defined in the bill as a facility whose electricity demand exceeds 25 megawatts that was not operating before July 1, 2026, without first having obtained a certificate of operation from the State Corporation Commission. The bill requires the Commission to permit the operation of a high load facility upon a finding that such facility and associated facilities (i) will have no material adverse effect upon the rates paid by customers of any regulated public utility in the Commonwealth, taking into account any likely generation, transmission, or distribution needs attributable to the operation of the high load facility; (ii) will have no material adverse effect upon reliability of electric service provided by any regulated public utility; (iii) would be consistent with the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy; and (iv) are not otherwise contrary to the public interest. The bill requires the Commission to consider certain factors in a review of a petition for a certificate to operate a high load facility, including whether there is sufficient energy, capacity, and grid infrastructure to support the operation of the high load facility and whether the operation of the high load facility would create an unreasonable cross-subsidy across customers served by the incumbent electric utility. Finally, the bill requires the Commission to conduct a proceeding to establish minimum criteria for the issuance of a certificate of operation for a high load facility and requirements for public notice and an opportunity for hearing.
Health insurance; coverage for non-opioid prescription drugs. Prohibits a health insurance carrier from imposing any cost-sharing, prior authorization, step therapy, or other limitation on coverage of a covered non-opioid drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment or management of pain that is more restrictive or less favorable to the enrollee relative to a covered opioid drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment or management of pain.
Electric utilities; renewable energy definition and facilities. Amends the definition of "renewable energy" for the purposes of electric utility regulation to include fuel cells. The bill also adds any renewable energy generation facility located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth to the list of projects for which a utility may seek a rate adjustment clause.
Regulation of electric utilities; development of renewable energy facilities; powers of State Air Pollution Control Board; powers of State Corporation Commission. Repeals provisions (i) requiring the State Air Pollution Control Board to adopt regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from any electricity generating unit in the Commonwealth and authorizing the Board to establish an auction program for energy allowances; (ii) prohibiting the State Corporation Commission from approving any new utility-owned generation facilities that emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of energy generation, in certain circumstances; (iii) declaring that statutory allowances for energy derived from sunlight, onshore wind, offshore wind, and storage facilities are in the public interest; and (iv) relating to the development of solar and wind generation and energy storage capacity, development of offshore wind capacity, and generation of electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources. The bill provides that planning and development activities for new nuclear generation facilities are in the public interest.
Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; flood-related disclosures. Requires the owner of residential real property located in the Commonwealth who has actual knowledge that the dwelling unit is located within certain flood hazard areas or floodplains to disclose such fact to the purchaser. The bill also removes from the disclosure statement provided by the Real Estate Board that is furnished to the purchaser of residential real property that the owner makes no representation with respect to whether the property is located in one or more special flood hazard areas.
Department of Health; regulations; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' final rule; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities. Directs the Department of Health to develop regulations to implement the requirements of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' final rule for Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting. The bill also repeals Chapters 482 and 483 the Acts of Assembly of 2023, which are made obsolete by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' final rule.
